description Richard Lazarus Overview
Richard Lazarus was an American psychologist known for cognitive appraisal theories of emotion and psychological stress. He argued that emotional and stress responses depend partly on how a person evaluates an event's significance and assesses available coping resources, rather than on the event alone. With Susan Folkman, he developed a transactional account of stress and coping that distinguished strategies aimed at changing a problem from those aimed at managing emotional responses.
insights Ranking position
Richard Lazarus ranks #50 of 228 in the Psychologist ranking, behind James Gross, ahead of Susan Fiske.
help Richard Lazarus FAQ
What is cognitive appraisal in Richard Lazarus's theory?
Cognitive appraisal is a person's evaluation of what an event means for personal well-being. Lazarus argued that this evaluation helps shape whether the event produces fear, anger, relief, or another emotional response.
What is the difference between primary and secondary appraisal?
Primary appraisal concerns whether an event is irrelevant, beneficial, threatening, harmful, or challenging. Secondary appraisal concerns what coping resources and possible responses the person believes are available.
How did Lazarus define problem-focused and emotion-focused coping?
Problem-focused coping attempts to change the stressful situation itself, while emotion-focused coping attempts to manage the feelings it creates. Lazarus and Susan Folkman developed this distinction in their transactional account of stress and coping.
How did Lazarus disagree with theories that emotions happen without appraisal?
Lazarus maintained that some evaluation of personal significance is fundamental to emotion, even when it happens rapidly or outside conscious awareness. This position became central to his debate with psychologist Robert Zajonc about whether emotion could precede cognition.
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